Back when Abby and I started 900dpi we had a few worries, the biggest of which was that building things for designers seemed really hard. Not just because they have high standards for the tools they use, but because their community is very fragmented. This means that even if you have a great product, it's really hard to let everyone know about it. There are sites like DN, HN, and reddit, but visitors to these sites only encompass a fraction of the design community. This fragmentation isn't just bad when you're trying to build something for designers, it's bad for the design community as a whole, because it makes it difficult to get involved in design.
While I was away in my cave building out our product, Abby vigorously set out to tackle this challenge, and what grew out of her efforts is way more impressive and important than our product. Design Like Mad helps student designers build their portfolio and get mentorship from experts in their field. It helps design professionals form new connections, collaborate with their peers, and mentor the next generation. They do this by bringing student and professional designers together for 12 hours to work on projects for non-profit organizations.
Earlier this week Design Like Mad started a Kickstarter to expand their event, which is already in Madison, Milwaukee and Portland, to two other cities in the US. If you have 5 seconds please help spread the word for a great cause.
Here's their Kickstarter Campaign
Help me bring the @design_like_mad event to #Austin! #kickstartDLM https://t.co/kPX69ka3lH pic.twitter.com/i0nPpgeh5p
— Aaron Larner (@alarner) April 28, 2015